Posted on: 02-04-07 14:50:28
there was a blood donation camp few months back at my office and I happily donated blood for the first time in Canada. They asked me atleast 100 questions for which I answered patiently. After few days I get a letter thanking me saying my blood group is so and so and it is one of the rarest group and how valuable it is. I felt good....few days later I get one more letter telling me that since I have come from an Malaria infected country(India), though I have not got Malaria myself, they have no use of the blood I donated. And they have no means of testing for Malaria in the blood. They also said that if I am living in Canada for more than 3 years they can take blood - this is the new rule it seems....
I've been donating blood in Canada for almost 10 years. At some point I may have indicated (in those 100 questions), that I had malaria. Recently I got a similar letter stating that they have no way of testing malaria, and that after April 1, 2007, I will not be eligible to donate blood.
I found this very strange. Each time I had to donate blood, the entire process took around 1 hr. 15 minutes for the actual donation, and around 45 minutes for the Q&A sessions. After all of that they give you one final chance (before donating) to admit that you have AIDS or any other disease. It's like a ballot box where you drop in your response. You then donate the blood, and they match the bar code on your ballot with the bar code on the bottle.
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SS
Reiki Grand Master
I donated bolld here in Toronto back in 2005 and couple of days ago I got the similar letter from them. Though I never had malaria in past. I will call them to find out the truth but due to tight schedule I could not call them till today.
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Live and Let Live. Together we can make a difference.
DP JAIN, CPA, CGA, CPA (US), CA(I), LL.B.(I)
416-305-0080
(Loans, Mortgage, Tax, Accounting, Investments)
Hello CD members,
Today morning I talked with the Canadian Blood Services and they told me the letter did not mean taht I ever had malaria and even they did not have any such remark in my profile. I was told that since we immigrated from India being a country affected by malaria therefore THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTING BOOLD FROM WE INDIANS.
This letter also says taht to DATE THERE IS NO TEST AVAILABLE IN CANADA TO SCREEN BLOOD DONORS FOR MALARIA.
IS this a medically advanced country?
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Live and Let Live. Together we can make a difference.
DP JAIN, CPA, CGA, CPA (US), CA(I), LL.B.(I)
416-305-0080
(Loans, Mortgage, Tax, Accounting, Investments)
Quote:
Originally posted by dp_jain
Hello CD members,
Today morning I talked with the Canadian Blood Services and they told me the letter did not mean taht I ever had malaria and even they did not have any such remark in my profile. I was told that since we immigrated from India being a country affected by malaria therefore THEY ARE NOT ACCEPTING BOOLD FROM WE INDIANS.
It has nothing to do with being Indian. It is supposed to be "anyone coming from a country that has malaria" has to wait three years before they can donate blood. Malaria has been eradicated in most of the western countries and so it is just a precaution they take. The same is followed in US also.
Quote:
Originally posted by puttoo
.....
.....It is supposed to be "anyone coming from a country that has malaria" has to wait three years before they can donate blood. ....
That's not true in my case. They've told me I cannot donate blood in future...period. Like I said I may have indicated at sometime that I may have had malaria. Again I'm not sure what I filled in 8-10 years ago.
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SS
Reiki Grand Master
I do not remember having had malaria over last ten years. How can they treat people coming from Asian countries like this?
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Live and Let Live. Together we can make a difference.
DP JAIN, CPA, CGA, CPA (US), CA(I), LL.B.(I)
416-305-0080
(Loans, Mortgage, Tax, Accounting, Investments)
